Abstract [en]

Background: The pace of diffusion of BIM (Building Information Modelling) use is considered to increase with governmentalinitiatives in which public clients in countries like Finland, Singapore, United Kingdom, and Sweden begin requiring BIM as apart of the project delivery. Currently, larger contractor firms use BIM to a certain extent. However, BIM use by mid-sizedcontractor firms (that is, firms with 50–500 employees that can successfully compete with larger contractors on projects costinga maximum of 50 million Euros) is relatively unknown. Hence, the aim of the paper is to explore current use and perceivedconstraints and driving forces of BIM-implementation with respect to mid-sized contractors.

Methods: A mixed method approach was applied, and data was collected through an interview study and a survey involvingchief executive officers or their closest sub-ordinates in mid-sized contractor firms in Sweden. The survey was based on atechnology-, organization-, and environment framework that is used in information systems research to study the use of inter-organizational information systems. The total population of firms in the survey corresponded to 104. The study presented thepreliminary results based on 32 answers (with a 31% response rate).

Results: Fifty-eight percent of the surveyed respondents stated that they had been involved in a project in which BIM wasused in some manner. The most commonly used application included visualization, which also facilitates coordination andcommunication. The biggest perceived constraints involved partners that did not use BIM, lack of demand from clients, andthe absence of internal demand in the company. With respect tothe two last obstacles, significant differences existedbetween users and non-users. The most common perceived driving forces included the fact that BIM is perceived as ameans to follow technical development and that BIMprovides competitive advantages to the company.

Conclusions: It is concluded that the main driver responsible for BIM-implementation is mainly determined by anindividual’s subjective positive or negative evaluation of BIM, instead of external pressure from clients and partners or by theinternal capacity and knowledge to use BIM.